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Hezbollah hails Winograd report

Hezbollah has hailed the Winograd commission report which accused the Israeli leadership of serious failures during the conflict, calling it proof that the guerilla group had been "victorious" in the summer fighting.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 23:38 May 3, 2009
  • Gulf News

Occupied Jerusalem: Hezbollah has hailed the Winograd report, calling it proof that the guerilla group had been "victorious" in the summer fighting.

"The Winograd report stressed that Hezbollah was victorious and that Israel is beatable," a senior spokesman told the organization's Al-Manar television channel.

The war commission's chairman Eliyahu Winograd said Olmert's declared aims in going to war - to free two Israeli soldiers seized by Hezbollah "were overly ambitious and impossible to achieve".

Nawaf Musawi, head of international relations for Hezbollah, called the war a "divine victory" against Israel.

He was quoted in the Haaretz newspaper as saying the report proves that senior Israeli officials had underestimated Hezbollah's power.

He added that "no one will take us lightly from now on, especially since we have only gained strength of late."

The Winograd report has political implications in Lebanon other than giving Hezbollah a weapon to use against the present government.

Musawi said that the report contradicts Beirut officials who claimed that the war had hurt Lebanon and was not won by Hezbollah.

"They say that Hezbollah didn't win and that Israel didn't lose. So maybe they also think there is no need for this report?"

Hezbollah had viewed the January resignation of former IDF chief Dan Halutz as an achievement, and is now following the political situation in Israel and assessing the chances that the Olmert government will fall.

Musawi said, however, that the United States would not permit friendly governments to collapse.

"Will the Israeli society succeed in toppling this weak unpopular government? We will see."

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